I'm a huge fan of Vance Powell...he always knows how he wants something to sound beforehand and he's a big proponent of getting the sound right before capture to minimise what he has to do afterwards.

Love his videos...I always take something away from them.

"Thats just a little bit of the Moog to provide some ear candy for ah...you stoners out there on headphones...."

That's gold (y)

Solid. (y)

besides this being such a great video, I cannot help mention seeing the independent monitor controller. http://www.cranesong.com/avocet.html

The Avocet is next on my list...after the WA-76 that is.

I'm doing away with the Presonus one I have at present

audiokid, post: 441010, member: 1 wrote: Solid. (y)

besides this being such a great video, I cannot help mention seeing the independent monitor controller. http://www.cranesong.com/avocet.html

Absolutely. It seems that the avocet and a heroic St re the most common one out there in the pro studios. It seem to me it's about even. The avocet may have a very slight edge in sonics, but neither one is a compromise. The avocet is a bit more money with less features. The deal breaker for me was its lack of modular expandability.

It's funny how you almost never see guys monitoring through the console.

Also hillarious is a 4K monitor controller connecting a pair of $800 speakers. Lol.

kmetal, post: 441017, member: 37533 wrote: Absolutely. It seems that the avocet and a heroic St re the most common one out there in the pro studios. It seem to me it's about even. The avocet may have a very slight edge in sonics, but neither one is a compromise. The avocet is a bit more money with less features. The deal breaker for me was its lack of modular expandability.

I've not used one but know past members going back years raved about the Avocet. It is in my humble opinion now somewhat dated, putting the Dangerous Monitor ST in as the better choice. Top features why:
Like all top level controllers should be, the ST is designed to control 3 inputs (3 points = tracking, mixing, mastering between DAW(s) to share 3 sets of calibrate-able speakers all sharing a common sub.
The ST is on switching relays so it's as transparent as it gets.
But, I certainly wouldn't say not to buy that gem either. I just really dig the ST for so many more reasons, for 1/3 of the cost of the Avocet. You can find them used for around or under $1500.

Cool thing here though, those who take the leap into independent monitor controlling immediately discover how vital modular monitor controllers are, especially when working with a DAW(s).
A console monitor system is not only coloured, it is also at the wrong side of the capture. I mean, we aren't tracking to tape and the audio isn't inside the console. ;)

kmetal, post: 441017, member: 37533 wrote: Also hilarious is a 4K monitor controller connecting a pair of $800 speakers. Lol.

indeed. NS10 are staples. But I bet there are a few others in there too.
One of my favourite speakers are Auratones now, which is about $350 lol. :love:

audiokid, post: 441042, member: 1 wrote: It is in my humble opinion now somewhat dated,

I think if I remember correctly it's originally from 2008. I belive in 2012 they upgraded a couple of the chips in it for more headroom and a couple other minor changes.

audiokid, post: 441042, member: 1 wrote: One of my favourite speakers are Auratones now, which is about $350 lol. :love:

The old horror-tones eh? For $350 I'll have to keep them in mind in the upcoming months. Are you using the new powered ones?

kmetal, post: 441058, member: 37533 wrote: I think if I remember correctly it's originally from 2008. I believe in 2012 they upgraded a couple of the chips in it for more headroom and a couple other minor changes.

Good info, thanks. Like most Crane Song products, I'm sure it's nothing sort of exceptional. A lot of ME use it.
I sold my ST for financial reasons last year and plan on getting another controller soon. Looking through Vintage King's list here, there are so many to choose from. I still think its best to avoid any with their own built in conversion.
 

kmetal, post: 441058, member: 37533 wrote: The old horror-tones eh? For $350 I'll have to keep them in mind in the upcoming months. Are you using the new powered ones?

Powered.

The drawmer one is interesting, I didn't know they made one.

A friend of mine who's a boutique freak (racks of API Brent avri, pultec, neve, tube tech) has used / uses the Coleman and spl monitor controllers, and has positive things to say about them. I know Chris H a member here uses the spl monitor controller as well.

I remember that the Colman 7.1 controller also had the ability to be a summing box too.

Since I'll be running like 14 speakers at some point expandability is important to me.

I wish the Orion just made a remote volume knob for its DA section and it would solve my problems. I think it can be controlled via computer / tablet.

In the lower price bracket the spl ticked all the right boxes (haven't heard it), and once you get into anything priced over the Coleman stuff, I don't think it's a question of quality but feature set. They're all within the highest standards.

Graces had some super cool functions. Of which I can't recall now.

Agree 100% about avoiding the controllers adda.

kmetal, post: 441081, member: 37533 wrote: I know Chris H a member here uses the spl monitor controller as well

kmetal, post: 441081, member: 37533 wrote: In the lower price bracket the spl ticked all the right boxes (haven't heard it), and once you get into anything priced over the Coleman stuff, I don't think it's a question of quality but feature set. They're all within the highest standards.

I've owned the SPL MTC 2381 . Its excellent.

kmetal, post: 441081, member: 37533 wrote: I wish the Orion just made a remote volume knob for its DA section and it would solve my problems. I think it can be controlled via computer / tablet.

What exactly is your goal, problem needing to be solved?

audiokid, post: 441082, member: 1 wrote: What exactly is your goal, problem needing to be solved?

Basically just simple volume control. The issue is it's a ton or outputs. 22 actually. 2x7.1 plus a/b/c stereo pairs. That's quite a bit of speakers.

The amps have all the eq and configurations built in / recallable so although inconvenient a bit I could do all my switching via the amps. The b/c steroe nearfields are active (focal, Yamaha).

I'm just about done selling all my stuff there's only a few more things left, which are fortunately some of the higher ticket items. So I don't actually have any sort of setup right now, just the computers in the boxes, and some Bluetooth speakers.

I liked the Orion becuase it has the 32 outs, which I didn't think I'd ever need, but add a few re-amp outs, and some hall/chamber speaker outs and things fill up quick.

Basically I've got to set the amps so they only go about 1/3-1/2 of the full capacity becuase I don't want any accidents. But I'd like to be able to control the volume and have some repeatable volume settings becuase when I tune the room I'm going to tune it with multiple different settings on the eqs Ect, one for low/med/high volume each 'flat' one overall 'flat' and one setting for 'entertainmaint' which will be hyped to taste.

My thought is to basically route my master buss to an aux and adjust from within the daw or vice verca. I'm not completely sure how the Orion works. My maudio interface had a master volume knob controllable via the knob or the mixer control panel software.

I'm not seeing any monitor controllers geared towards so many outputs and the dangerous would land around 6k for that many expansions. I could run the 2nd surround off the scarelett wich has a volume knob and I might anyway for logistic reasons.

So it may be a case where I have a dedicated 7.1 and stereo monitor controller. Audient and Coleman make both, I think it'd be nice to have them from the same company.

So that's kinda where I'm at w the planning stage as far as the system goes now that I've got placeholders for everything.

As soon as my tool shed is built (materials came in two days ago) I'll have a place for my tools and crap, and I'll be setting up my computer(s) and a RME babyface pro, to get going on drawings and archiving all my recordings. The goal is to have all my files organized so when my real mix spot is ready I can do one last mix/master of that stuff to have a complete demo real for my website. Some stuff I'll probably leave alone.

I never ever want to have to do this again, so I'm going to be vey careful how I save my new files so they float easily among programs, and I'll likely be sticking w avid/magix for the long haul.

Basically I devised a mental game plan of saving audio in compete tracks properly labeled at certian points, raw edited mixed Ect. So that when a project is done I can have the individual tracks saved at their level in the final mix, and all at unity. So for instance when the files are printed at mix level, it's a matter of drag and dropping the files into any mixer or daw setting the faders at unity and the mix is there. Ect Ect. Too many fades, edits, and pluggin settings and stuff becomes obselete. What a mess I've made! Just going I'm able to recover as much stuff as possible.